Steam Box take two: Job listing suggests Valve is developing hardware

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Valve getting into hardware development has been a long running, popular rumor among the gaming population (rivaled only by rumors of Half-Life 3‘s launch date). The so-called “Steam Box” is a rumored console-like system with PC components that would allow you to play all of your Steam games in the living room using a variety of input methods (including a custom controller). Although the company has previously dismissed the notion, increasing evidence suggests otherwise.

The most recent indication that Valve may be diving into hardware development after all is a job listing in which the company stated that it is seeking an industrial designer with at least six years of experience shipping “world-class, high-tech technology products,” working knowledge of design principles, and familiarity with 2D/3D design software (among other qualifiers). This does not, by itself, confirm Valve will start developing the Steam Box, but when combined with other hints over the last couple of years, such a device does not sound out of the question.

In 2009, Valve filed for a pair of patents (US 2011/0105231 A1 and US 2011/0009193 A1 respectively) that covered both a modular game controller with interchangeable inputs, and a method to control a video game using biometric inputs (something Sony is also working on). Since then, the company has also worked on its Big Picture Mode, which is a 10-foot interface designed to make the Steam client easier to use on a TV screen in the living room (by having larger text, and controllable with a remote control). In addition, the company has announced the upcoming Steam client and Source engine port to the Linux operating system. Valve has even been quoted by Penny Arcade as saying “if we have to sell hardware [to innovate] we will.”

All of those, and similar, announcements and actions lend a credibility to the Steam Box rumors — and now would be a great time for Valve to jump into the hardware game with its own platform. Microsoft is pushing for more control in the software that is run on its operating system — and wants to control the distribution and sales of said (Metro) apps as well. On the other side of things, the Android-powered Ouya console experienced a massively successful Kickstarter campaign.

Meanwhile Microsoft and Sony are taking their sweet time bringing next-generation consoles to market, leaving a nice opening for someone to come in and market to gamers with a new console. Should that someone be Valve, they could bring PC gamers to the living room while also bringing the best aspects of the PC to console gamers. If Valve wanted to, now would be a great time to do so — and evidence suggests that it is at least considering developing its own hardware platform. The combination of powerful PC hardware, Steam distribution channel, indie developer friendly programs like Greenlight, and a living room friendly interface would be an extremely potent one.

It is impossible to say for sure if Valve is going to bring the long-awaited Steam Box to the gamers that have been clamoring for it, but the future of Valve hardware seems promising.

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I just don’t see the point… If I buy a game from Steam I am buying it because I want to play it on my PC. There are very few games anymore that I told myself wow I wish I had a console for this.

timverry

I’ll admit that I play a lot more games on my PC at my desk than on the consoles in the living room, but every now and then it’s nice to be able to throw the games up on the big screen :). Granted you can already do this by just hooking your PC up in the living room, but that’s not very convenient for me.

TREY

IM PISSED NOT ONLY PISSED Appalled I’M A PC GAMER NOT A CONSOLE GAMER! I don’t want some freaking console valve should focus on better things then consoles look at the current consoles they are dieing developers are dropping them like a hat! even with “new gen” consoles they will still drop consoles developers that is simply because 1 they are limited by hardware consoles can never be upgraded like PC’s 2 valve needs to focus more on getting a LINUX VERSION instead of a CRAP! console I’m a PC gamer because PC’s are my passion and because I don’t want some little twelve year old kid yelling in my ear telling me something like “yea that’s what your mom said last night” valve come on man this is going to be a HUGE MISTAKE!

timverry

But the Steam Box /is/ a PC. Small form factor yes, but it is a PC.

Will Mills

I agree, but if you really want to through that logic out there we can say consoles are PC’s as well. PC just stands for Personal Computer. A computer is anything that can perform mathematical calculations. So a Personal Computer would be anything that can be personally owned that can perform mathematical calculations. I have an old graphing calculator that has some games on it. So we could call that a Console/PC/Graphing Calculator.

timverry

Yes, consoles are PC’s too, but use proprietary parts that you can’t swap out/upgrade. I forsee the Steam Box being more of a small form factor gaming PC with standardized parts that will act a sort of minimum/baseline for developers who put their games on steam to shoot for. Ideally, it would be an open platform that would run Linux (or maybe Windows) but more importantly a steam client with custom UI suitable for using while sitting back on the couch. I think it could be a good thing for PC gaming but I guess I’ll have to wait and see where Valve goes with this.

agooddecision

[quote] …valve needs to focus more on getting a LINUX VERSION instead of a CRAP!… [/quote]

Maybe Valve should do that, but you should really focus on school instead of gaming.

Punctuation and spelling are important. The way you write is the way you present yourself to the world online. We can’t see you, we don’t know if you are well dressed and groomed.

We can see that you are unable to manage basic literacy skills. You are unable to use punctuation, something that your parents mastered in grade school. Your spelling is appalling.

If you wish to come across as a ranting, dribbling moron then please go ahead and continue to wave the flag of the functionally-illiterate, attention-deficit generation. Well done you.

woody188

There is no reason why a “Steam Box” couldn’t be made to be upgradable in some regards. Valve will do whatever Valve decides will make it the most money and a return to their investors. The writing is on the wall. Traditional desktop PC’s are not the future. Casual gamers won’t invest in a PC just to play games. Most companies would rather sell 5 million copies to casual gamers than 250,000 copies to hardcore fanboys. It’s just economics.

TREY

yo somebody has been useing my email i just fixed this mind telling me whos been impersinateing me?

woody188

Haven’t a clue. I can’t think of one good reason to impersonate you.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EKNZKJ5LBTYYEUH4NCSPTGFGGE Eric

RE: Rants about lack of upgrade path for “Steam Box”…

Umm, who said it would not have a PCIe slot to upgrade the Video capabilities?
Who said the RAM was soldered on?

Oh, that’s right, it’s not even been designed yet….

A good baseline CPU with socketed ram and video with USB3 connectivity would certainly fit the bill. On-board gigabit Ethernet, DSP Wireless (software configurable like cell phones and some laptop wireless cards already on the market,) and 24 bit multi-channel (software driven) high definition audio will be much less likely to REQUIRE any upgrade over the life of the “console/PC.”

Seriously, most games nowadays make more use of the GPU than the CPU (not entirely, but more) making only RAM and Video as likely upgrades. (I am not ignoring the SSD/HDD portion, I figured that is what will limit the number of games installed, and could be expanded via USB3 or ESATA as more space is needed.)

Done right (friendly way) we would be allowed to use ANY USB3 or ESATA drive, of any size we choose…

Done wrong, but still something people WILL do, only proprietary “signed” drives will work, ala original XBOX….

Either way we will win for such a box. Younger children could live with lower powered GPU and RAM combinations, and likely smaller storage options… Adults and teens would tend towards more powerful setups able to handle photo-realistic 3d and advanced physics simulations..

Here’s the interesting part… As part of the already planned future: It runs an optimized version of BSD/Linux….

Given most consoles are going AMD, it makes since that this proposed system would also go the same way.. If hardware were limited to one brand, but almost any model higher than a certain point, it would be easy to have a universal driver that would scale with card ability. (That point being you could go out and buy a better card, plug it in, and it would just work… (same as a linux live-cd/dvd/USB) )

The advantage? Low initial cost from a company like DELL that is hurting enough from low PC sales to make an attractive offer to Steam… They already have some decent SFF PC’s that would work well, given the lower requirements of many Steam games vs. full on multi-DVD titles. Normally their weak spots are video card and expandability, but they would fit the bill for a Steam Box…

Take it however you will… it’s just my thought on the matter. Just remember that mass custom ordered business Dell’s come with whatever warranty the purchaser selects, not what many of the consumer grade machines of the past have come with.

Also, Acer or any other company could get the contract just as easily..

The point is that not all of the system will need to be upgradable.
It will not need 5 or 6 PCIe slots…
Given the planned port of Steam to Linux, that is a good place to save manufacturing cost and increase their profits without costing $300 up front. (Obviously using their own distribution network, and pre-loading titles will also help)